All I want is nothing more
by Looking at her hurt
Summary: "I'm going to remember this." She whispers into his ear. "I'm going to remember this on nights when I can't remember my own name, and I hope that maybe- maybe you'll remember this, too." Klaus and Caroline get a small forever.


**Either a part one of a two-shot, or a prologue to something that I would very much finish now that I'm finally done with school. Yay! Let me know how you'd feel about this style of story.**

* * *

Caroline Salvatore feels _wonderful-_

Although she has no reason to. In fact, shame should be coursing through her veins. She's seventeen, with a baby in her belly, and a ring on her finger.

Caroline Salvatore- or rather Caroline Mikaelson has never been so happy in her entire life. They live in squalor, nothing close to the manor she grew up in, but she is _happy. _

She watches from across the room as her husband bathes himself- not in a bathtub- but rather a washtub on the floor. She plays with her hair, hums and smiles at him. He doesn't notice, of course, too busy making himself look presentable. He's rather vein, insisting on putting on his Sunday best every day, but she loves him for it. She's lucky to change her clothes once a week now, and with the expanding of her form, it's becoming even more difficult.

She could always go home, she reminds herself, and live with the luxuries of a privileged girl. Privileges that are her birth right.

It is not her that has been shunned into exile.

But she shakes her head, a silly smile playing across her lips, and reminds herself that- In spite of everything, she is happy.

* * *

It isn't what he promised her. It's not even close, but Caroline brings their baby home with a smile on their face.

Their home is nothing more than a room, with a stove in the corner, a single bed pushed against the wall, and a bassinet beside it. Klaus dresses everyday in his best suit, searching for work, but it's as though his father, who isn't actually his father, has blacklisted him.

But he gets up at the break of dawn every morning anyway, and searches for any type of work, just so they can eat that night.

She's a good woman, and she deserves a good life.

So, when he arrives home every night, his shoes a little more scuffed than they were before, his hands black, a stolen bunch of flowers in his hand, he places a kiss upon a cheek, and tells her she looks phenomenal.

"Well?" She asks eagerly, the baby bouncing in her arms. He just shakes his head, noticing one more line on her face, and knows that he's the one that put it there. It's the worry, the threat of their families looming over them.

And every night, through silent whispers, he promises her that he's going to give her the world.

* * *

He finds work eventually. It's for little money, and his back aches constantly, but there is food in the belly of those he loves. Caroline holds Dorothy to her chest, and thinks of all the things he promised her, and what they have.

It's very perfect, she thinks. Well, it _isn't, _but when Klaus looks at her in the morning, in the first light of the day, he gets this smile on his face- a smile like he knows he's made it- like they're out of this hell, this rough patch- he looks at her like a dying man who's seeing his last sun rise.

* * *

There's a knock at the door on Dorothy's third birthday, and with hesitation Caroline opens it. She's twenty one- although she doesn't look a day over sixteen.

She's still graced with golden curls, and flawless skin- still got that twinkle in her eye.

"Hello, Caroline." Stefan says, a sad smile playing across his lips. It's been three years since he's seen his baby sister, it's been three years since he's seen colour in his world.

She invites him in, and for a while, they talk like they did when they were children, when there father was still alive, when their mother had not closed her heart to them.

"She's beautiful." He tells her, with a sleeping Dorothy cradled in his arms.

"She's wonderful." She replies. "All I've ever wished for, and so is he."

"Don't, Care." He whispers. "You know what he did to our family."

"He didn't do it, Stefan. He didn't kill Katerina Petrova, he swears it."

"His father-"

"His father is a _liar." _She hisses, struggling to keep quiet so as not to wake Dorothy. "You know it, Stefan. You know it in your heart." She whispers, barely managing to contain her tears. For a moment, she sees the boy she once knew, her older brother. Always a sweet boy, Stefan spoiled her rotten, treating her as more than just a beauty. The family, however- their father's disappearance, had made him cold. He wasn't that boy anymore, and Caroline had struggled to remember that.

"Come home, Caroline. I'll be in a town for a week. Please, come home with me."

* * *

She pleads with him to flee, to leave their home, but he refuses to budge. They've been running for three four years now, and he won't run anymore.

* * *

"Thank you for meeting me." Klaus says, taking his hand from his pocket, and offering it. Stefan refuses, and Klaus lowers his hand. He don't know why he expected anything different. "You were right." He says, and it nearly kills him to say it. "This is no life for Caroline, for Dorothy- they deserve what is their birth right, and I cannot give it to them."

"You've already left her, haven't you?" Stefan asks, and for a second, Klaus recognizes the young man he used to call his friend. He nods, and Stefan smiles. "Good. She knows where I am, so it shouldn't take long for her to come to me."

"You'll take care of her, won't you?"

Stefan snarls.

"Of course, she's my _blood." _Klaus nods, because he's lucky Stefan is letting him walk away with his life, not that it's worth much now. The conversation is clearly over, so with a heavy heart, Klaus makes his way past him.

"Mikaelson," Stefan calls, and when Klaus turns around, Stefan is standing there with his hand outstretched. "you're doing the right thing."

Klaus wonders if he's right.


End file.
